"It is ridiculous that the Congress Rajya Sabha MP has favoured the Independent MLAs, who were jailed on corruption charges, JVM Member of Parliament, Kumar said in response to the statement of the newly elected RS member and JPCC chief Balmuchu.

The Congress has neither showed its sincerity to fight corruption nor felt any discomfort with leaders mired in graft, he claimed.

Admitting that the distance between JVM and Congress has widened, Kumar charged Congress was not prepared to accept the ground realities about raising the base of JVM in the state.

Asked whether the JVM, one of the allies of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, should continue the JVM MP significantly said "though such decisions are to be taken by our central leadership, my personal opinion remains that we should pull out if they do not mend their ways."